by There exists an island shrouded in mystery, laying far to the west of even Caelum, several month's sail from Minstrel's own shores. A place swathed in legend, home to a race as ancient as they are enigmatic, one known to few and witnessed by fewer still. Kaijū-jima is that isle, a massive bastion of jungle covered mountains that rises from the sea amidst the vast blue emptiness of the open ocean. The Monster Isle, an aptly named place where even the bravest pirates fear to tread. Rumors swirl of the island, and its fearsome inhabitants. It is said the dragons of old yet reside on the island, and that beasts far older and crueler yet slumber within its forests waiting for their next meal. It is said that the people that inhabit the grim isle are cannibals, who will gladly devour the flesh of men and sacrifice them up to demonic gods long forgotten by the rest of the world. It is said the World-Ender himself sleeps beneath the volcano at the heart of the island. The King of the Monsters, who will destroy all in the end of days.
The truth of Kaijū-jima, like many things about the island and its inhabitants, is known to few and recorded by fewer. As with every tale of the sea, sailors have long since embellished what they fear; the unknown. With every retelling the stories grew more wild and fanciful, embellishments heaped on exaggerations, creating a legend of an island of monsters only the most foolhardy would dare to visit. A vile place of ancient beasts, demonic cults, and terrible magics best forgotten by the rest of the world. Yet behind every legend, every story, lies a grain of truth. And the truth of Kaijū-jima and its residents is often stranger than fiction.
True to their name, the Kaijin are indeed a monsters made into man. To understand the Kaijin, one must first understand their origins. To do that requires knowledge of the Daikaiju. In ancient times, long before the first dragon took to the skies and mankind had not yet even harnessed the power of fire, much less magic, there existed the Daikaiju. The original rulers of Earthland, the Daikaiju were titanic beasts of gigantic proportions and unmatched magic. So large their footsteps shook mountains and their heads touched the clouds. So powerful their might was rivaled only by the Gods themselves, no living being besides one of their own ranks could hope to challenge a Daikaiju. Their battles were beyond legendary, and heaven and earth alike trembled at the clash of blows.
Though defeated by the Gods, and faced with the threat of extinction, the Daikaiju refused to die, their will to survive exceeded all others. Imparting their souls, their magics, their very essence within a tribe of early humans, the Daikaiju found a means to live on in some small way. And thus, the Kaijin were born. The distant descendants of the Daikaiju, the race had inherited a great many gifts from their precursors. Included among these were towering size compared to normal humans, increased lifespans, powerful regeneration, wild and ancient primordial magic, and most notable of all the physical traits and likenesses of their forebears.
With the shadow of the Daikaiju now gone from Earthland, it was time for a new era to begin. The Dawn of the Dragons. Once only the second strongest beings in the world, now uncontested by the titans of old, the dragons quickly rose up from the ashes of the world to claim dominion over all. They forged empires, enslaved countless, an carved a legacy in history that scholars have studied ceaselessly until this very day. In the meanwhile, the Kaijin retreated from the growing threat of the Dragons. Lacking the numbers or the strength to stand against them as their ancestors did, the Kaijin feared extermination at the hands of the Dragons for the actions of the Daikaiju that had come before them. They fled westward, claiming dominion over the isles discarded and forgotten at the edge of the world.
Over time, the dominion of the Kaijin shrank. Territory was lost, ceded to the Dragons or taken in their petty struggles against mankind. Their numbers remained few, and their long lifespans meant the giant humanoids were slow to reproduce. Humans seemed to come at them in endless droves in the centuries after the fall of the Dragons. Liberated from their tormentors and free to claim dominion over Earthland for their own, the Age of Man had come, and once more the Kaijin had been discarded by Fate. With every war and every battle they lost yet more territory to the seemingly endless hordes of man. Pushed back further and further into the sea, until at last mankind had sated their greed and left the Kaijin with a precious few islands seated at the edge of the world.
Physically the Kaijin look no different from Mankind, at a distance. In truth they are far taller, and larger, growing faster than humans and ultimately ending up several heads taller than even the tallest humans. Kaijin visibly display traits and features passed down from their distant Daikaiju ancestors, manifesting in everything from claws and horns to tails and wings. The more prominent the manifestation of Daikaiju traits, the stronger the bloodline of that individual is believed to be. It is considered an omen of good fortune, and more monstrous Kaijin frequently find their ways into positions of power and respect within their social hierarchy. Lesser Kaijin, ones barely distinguishable from normal humans, are sometimes driven into exile or flee Monster Island in shame. They tend to eek out lives as sailors, pirates, or mercenaries as their size and strength leads them to pursue physical lifestyles.
The Kaijin are a very communal people, believe in strong social ties over more intimate familial bonds. Rather than giving birth to live children, women lay a single large egg. These are then tended to in communal nests closely watched over by village elders until the children hatch. At this point the young Kaijin are raised almost evenly between their own parents and the village elders. They are instilled with a great respect for their elders, a strong sense of pride in their heritage, and ultimately taught their ancient forms of magic. Kaijin believe in oral tradition as much as recorded history, and more often than not stories, spells, and lessons are spoken to children from memory rather than read from a scroll or tome.
As Kaijin child age, they are taught hunting, fishing, farming, sailing, navigation, warfare, and magic. It is believed by the people of Kaijū-jima that a society is only as strong as its weakest member. There are no beggars on Monster Island, none live homeless in poverty. All will find their place, should they wish it or not. The undesirables of society are corralled into the arenas to fight in gladiatorial combat for amusement, against their fellow man or the beasts of the jungles. Those who can neither fight or work can teach, and those that can do none of the above are given a spear, a hatchet, and a day's food and water and told to 'make their own way' in the island's jungles. A euphemism for finding an honorable death in the wilderness rather than be a burden to society, it is often a cue to enter self imposed exile and flee the island never to return.
Kaijū-jima is a volcanic island, or rather was in eras long since passed. The Mountain of Fire sleeps, though its legacy remains. The mines along the islands jagged, jungle covered peaks are flush with gold, silver, gems, iron, mithril, adamantine, and obsidian. This abundance of precious metals has bolstered a thriving community of smiths and the forge fires glow within the cities of the Kaijin at all hours of the day. Kaijin-crafted armor and weapons are of peerless quality, and a highly sought after trade good that command exorbitant prices in the wealthy ports of Minstrel and Midi.
Rare jungle beasts also teem within the island's lush rain forests. Tigers, panthers, striped horses, rhinoceros, great apes, and birds, amphibians, and reptiles of a thousand different types. The rarest beasts are often hunted for their furs, feathers, or hides, and live specimens of both the jungle's beasts are the much larger Terror Lizards are infrequently sold to Easterners to be used in circuses, arenas, or kept in menageries or zoos. Horns, bones, eggs, and teeth also tend to fetch a high price, used in a variety of potions and medicines or resold on the mainland as curiosities of the seas.
Not all Kaijin however, can tolerate life within their island home. For some it is tedious, monotonous, and lacks a greater purpose. Children grow up on stories from sailors of the human lands to the east. With gleaming cities of stone and marble, palaces and castles filled with treasure, and orders of mages seeking fame and fortune. The "Call of the East", as the elders put it, sings out to a few children each nesting cycle. Though frowned on and heavily discouraged, Kaijin society does not forcibly pressure its members from leaving. Adults are free to go, so long as their debts to society are paid in full. This usually means they must sell all but the clothes on their backs, in order to compensate their communities for their leaving. Their departure is a loveless occasion, and those that remain do their best to forget their kinsmen that leave the island.
In final summation, Kaijū-jima is indeed Monster Island. Though the monsters are but great beasts of the jungles, ones that hardly compare to the dragons or the even more monstrous titans of old. The people that inhabit the island are a very proud, very conservative race of Daikaiju descendants with incredible physical traits and a culture as ancient as it in unyielding. The island and its people are not completely isolationist, and while they welcome foreigners and trade their remote location and countless rumors keeps all the most fearless of ships from even seeking their shores.
For most of Earthland, the most likely they are to interact with a Kaijin is the odd wandering sellsword, seeking to carve out a life for themselves far from their home. Or, much more likely, to be attacked by ferocious Kaijin pirates while traveling the high seas. For the vast majority of the world though, Kaijū-jima and her people are names beyond even legend. Total enigmas, neither known nor worried about. Few know of the Monster Island, and fewer still know the truth of its people. And for the Kaijin themselves, they'd much prefer to keep things that way. By and large they are content with their place in the world, the thunderous conquests of their titanic ancestors a distant memory long since forgotten by all but them. Mankind has inherited Earthland, and the Kaijin would prefer they remain forgotten.
Word Count: 3,340
The truth of Kaijū-jima, like many things about the island and its inhabitants, is known to few and recorded by fewer. As with every tale of the sea, sailors have long since embellished what they fear; the unknown. With every retelling the stories grew more wild and fanciful, embellishments heaped on exaggerations, creating a legend of an island of monsters only the most foolhardy would dare to visit. A vile place of ancient beasts, demonic cults, and terrible magics best forgotten by the rest of the world. Yet behind every legend, every story, lies a grain of truth. And the truth of Kaijū-jima and its residents is often stranger than fiction.
- The Shipwrecked Shores of Monster Island:
- The Jungle Cities of Monster Island:
True to their name, the Kaijin are indeed a monsters made into man. To understand the Kaijin, one must first understand their origins. To do that requires knowledge of the Daikaiju. In ancient times, long before the first dragon took to the skies and mankind had not yet even harnessed the power of fire, much less magic, there existed the Daikaiju. The original rulers of Earthland, the Daikaiju were titanic beasts of gigantic proportions and unmatched magic. So large their footsteps shook mountains and their heads touched the clouds. So powerful their might was rivaled only by the Gods themselves, no living being besides one of their own ranks could hope to challenge a Daikaiju. Their battles were beyond legendary, and heaven and earth alike trembled at the clash of blows.
- The Strongest Daikaiju Duel for the Title of King of the Monsters:
- The Gods Arrive to Smite the Daikaiju:
Though defeated by the Gods, and faced with the threat of extinction, the Daikaiju refused to die, their will to survive exceeded all others. Imparting their souls, their magics, their very essence within a tribe of early humans, the Daikaiju found a means to live on in some small way. And thus, the Kaijin were born. The distant descendants of the Daikaiju, the race had inherited a great many gifts from their precursors. Included among these were towering size compared to normal humans, increased lifespans, powerful regeneration, wild and ancient primordial magic, and most notable of all the physical traits and likenesses of their forebears.
With the shadow of the Daikaiju now gone from Earthland, it was time for a new era to begin. The Dawn of the Dragons. Once only the second strongest beings in the world, now uncontested by the titans of old, the dragons quickly rose up from the ashes of the world to claim dominion over all. They forged empires, enslaved countless, an carved a legacy in history that scholars have studied ceaselessly until this very day. In the meanwhile, the Kaijin retreated from the growing threat of the Dragons. Lacking the numbers or the strength to stand against them as their ancestors did, the Kaijin feared extermination at the hands of the Dragons for the actions of the Daikaiju that had come before them. They fled westward, claiming dominion over the isles discarded and forgotten at the edge of the world.
Over time, the dominion of the Kaijin shrank. Territory was lost, ceded to the Dragons or taken in their petty struggles against mankind. Their numbers remained few, and their long lifespans meant the giant humanoids were slow to reproduce. Humans seemed to come at them in endless droves in the centuries after the fall of the Dragons. Liberated from their tormentors and free to claim dominion over Earthland for their own, the Age of Man had come, and once more the Kaijin had been discarded by Fate. With every war and every battle they lost yet more territory to the seemingly endless hordes of man. Pushed back further and further into the sea, until at last mankind had sated their greed and left the Kaijin with a precious few islands seated at the edge of the world.
- Man Will Never Conquer Monster Island:
- A Kaijin Hunter and his Terrorsaurus:
Physically the Kaijin look no different from Mankind, at a distance. In truth they are far taller, and larger, growing faster than humans and ultimately ending up several heads taller than even the tallest humans. Kaijin visibly display traits and features passed down from their distant Daikaiju ancestors, manifesting in everything from claws and horns to tails and wings. The more prominent the manifestation of Daikaiju traits, the stronger the bloodline of that individual is believed to be. It is considered an omen of good fortune, and more monstrous Kaijin frequently find their ways into positions of power and respect within their social hierarchy. Lesser Kaijin, ones barely distinguishable from normal humans, are sometimes driven into exile or flee Monster Island in shame. They tend to eek out lives as sailors, pirates, or mercenaries as their size and strength leads them to pursue physical lifestyles.
The Kaijin are a very communal people, believe in strong social ties over more intimate familial bonds. Rather than giving birth to live children, women lay a single large egg. These are then tended to in communal nests closely watched over by village elders until the children hatch. At this point the young Kaijin are raised almost evenly between their own parents and the village elders. They are instilled with a great respect for their elders, a strong sense of pride in their heritage, and ultimately taught their ancient forms of magic. Kaijin believe in oral tradition as much as recorded history, and more often than not stories, spells, and lessons are spoken to children from memory rather than read from a scroll or tome.
As Kaijin child age, they are taught hunting, fishing, farming, sailing, navigation, warfare, and magic. It is believed by the people of Kaijū-jima that a society is only as strong as its weakest member. There are no beggars on Monster Island, none live homeless in poverty. All will find their place, should they wish it or not. The undesirables of society are corralled into the arenas to fight in gladiatorial combat for amusement, against their fellow man or the beasts of the jungles. Those who can neither fight or work can teach, and those that can do none of the above are given a spear, a hatchet, and a day's food and water and told to 'make their own way' in the island's jungles. A euphemism for finding an honorable death in the wilderness rather than be a burden to society, it is often a cue to enter self imposed exile and flee the island never to return.
- Great Beasts are Captured to Fight in the Colosseums:
- Daikaiju Temples Tower Above the Cities:
Kaijū-jima is a volcanic island, or rather was in eras long since passed. The Mountain of Fire sleeps, though its legacy remains. The mines along the islands jagged, jungle covered peaks are flush with gold, silver, gems, iron, mithril, adamantine, and obsidian. This abundance of precious metals has bolstered a thriving community of smiths and the forge fires glow within the cities of the Kaijin at all hours of the day. Kaijin-crafted armor and weapons are of peerless quality, and a highly sought after trade good that command exorbitant prices in the wealthy ports of Minstrel and Midi.
Rare jungle beasts also teem within the island's lush rain forests. Tigers, panthers, striped horses, rhinoceros, great apes, and birds, amphibians, and reptiles of a thousand different types. The rarest beasts are often hunted for their furs, feathers, or hides, and live specimens of both the jungle's beasts are the much larger Terror Lizards are infrequently sold to Easterners to be used in circuses, arenas, or kept in menageries or zoos. Horns, bones, eggs, and teeth also tend to fetch a high price, used in a variety of potions and medicines or resold on the mainland as curiosities of the seas.
- Kaijin Pirates are the Terror of the Western Sea:
Not all Kaijin however, can tolerate life within their island home. For some it is tedious, monotonous, and lacks a greater purpose. Children grow up on stories from sailors of the human lands to the east. With gleaming cities of stone and marble, palaces and castles filled with treasure, and orders of mages seeking fame and fortune. The "Call of the East", as the elders put it, sings out to a few children each nesting cycle. Though frowned on and heavily discouraged, Kaijin society does not forcibly pressure its members from leaving. Adults are free to go, so long as their debts to society are paid in full. This usually means they must sell all but the clothes on their backs, in order to compensate their communities for their leaving. Their departure is a loveless occasion, and those that remain do their best to forget their kinsmen that leave the island.
In final summation, Kaijū-jima is indeed Monster Island. Though the monsters are but great beasts of the jungles, ones that hardly compare to the dragons or the even more monstrous titans of old. The people that inhabit the island are a very proud, very conservative race of Daikaiju descendants with incredible physical traits and a culture as ancient as it in unyielding. The island and its people are not completely isolationist, and while they welcome foreigners and trade their remote location and countless rumors keeps all the most fearless of ships from even seeking their shores.
For most of Earthland, the most likely they are to interact with a Kaijin is the odd wandering sellsword, seeking to carve out a life for themselves far from their home. Or, much more likely, to be attacked by ferocious Kaijin pirates while traveling the high seas. For the vast majority of the world though, Kaijū-jima and her people are names beyond even legend. Total enigmas, neither known nor worried about. Few know of the Monster Island, and fewer still know the truth of its people. And for the Kaijin themselves, they'd much prefer to keep things that way. By and large they are content with their place in the world, the thunderous conquests of their titanic ancestors a distant memory long since forgotten by all but them. Mankind has inherited Earthland, and the Kaijin would prefer they remain forgotten.
Word Count: 3,340
Last edited by Cassiopeia on 8th July 2019, 12:49 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Formatting)
